Happy Cream Puff - Makati

If you love cream puff and you can't find Beard Papa or cringe at the price of it, then this place is a lovely substitute. It is P30 a piece and they have a variety from which to choose unlike Beard Papa.

However, I still prefer Beard Papa's cream puff. I've tried the ones in Japan, US ,as well as here in Manila. Of course, I love the shu cream (in Japan) the best. I also like Beard Papa's pastry cream a bit better. It has a taste, while the ones at Happy Cream fell flat. It wasn't sweet so that was good, but I found it to be too plain.

Puto Bumbong - Paranaque

Since I'll be leaving soon to San Francisco, I've finally taken the plunge to learn all things Filipino. Why is it once you know you are leaving a place do you take advantage of all the things that weren't as important...say the weather, traffic, food, the sights or just people. I've made a vow to enjoy every second, every minute that I have left here. I will soak it all in!

So my last few posts will be my tribute to everything I love Filipino. First up, is puto bumbong. It is purple colored rice that is just chewy goodness. Since I'm a fan of mochi, I knew this would be one of the filipino desserts I've come to love. It has toppings of fresh shredded coconut and butter, wrapped in a banana leaf. It normally comes with raw muscovado sugar in a packet garnished on the side.

One of my favorite and consistent ones comes from my very own Paranaque area. I just had to learn the

Hotel Celeste - Makati

Standard Room or Deluxe Room about P4,300/night

Ed, making the bathroom look ultra cool....

Hotel Celeste is a year old boutique style hotel located in Makati. I have a like/love relationship with boutique style hotels in that they are more intimate and personalized than the bigger franchise hotels. Besides what they lack in certain amenities like a pool, they make up for in swankiness and cool products like an Ipod docking station or flat screen TV.

While we didn't come here for the hotel our curiosity was piqued that we asked the staff to see the rooms so that if friends or family came, we can recommend it. They gladly accommodated us and showed us two rooms, one standard and one suite. They have a total of 30 rooms, each with a different design and motif.

Suite room....w/adjacent living room below about P7,200/night

I so love the bathtub...it isn't claw foot, but still cool!

The rates for Hotel Celeste seem pretty reasonable for what it offers. The rooms are a bit small, but then again, most hotel rooms are getting smaller and smaller anyway. If I didn't have relatives or family here, I would definitely consider this hotel.

Hotel Celeste
San Lorenzo Ave. cor. Arnaiz
www.hotelceleste.ph

Snow Garden Korean Restaurant - D Mall Boracay

After a lovely swim at the Regency Boracay we were all craving for some Korean food. It was hot that day so we were looking for anything we could find. We noticed one along the main beach, but somehow with the heat and being so hungry we had no patience to walk back and forth to look for it. We also asked around and no one seemed to know of any except for on at D'Mall. If I only found one Korean tourist, I'm sure we would've hit a really good one.

For this resto, they didn't have ojingubokum so they opted to have bulgogi and two orders of chap chae. The bulgogi was as good as it gets in the Philippines, meaning it was better than some others. The chap chae was just ok too, but at the portions for this was a big serving plate. It didn't have all the yummy goodness of the vegetables that it normally has, but the serving made up for it.

The condiments weren't as good as you would normally get at other Korean restaurants, but we weren't complaining as they kept refilling the ones we requested.

Snow Garden Korean Restaurant
D'Mall Boracay
Price: Moderate to High

English Bakery and Tea Room Boracay

English Bakery is not in the long strip of food places you can find. As a matter of fact, you have to cross a few alley ways and one main road, depending on where you are coming to reach it.

Their menu is varied as it consisted of your usual filipino fare and continental or american breakfast. I got the ham and cheese omelet with french bread for about P85. There was no french bread or baguette, it was plain toast...a small one at that with some plastic strip I found after eating it half-way. However, the omelet was of good size, but nothing spectacular. As a matter of fact it was "meh". If there is one thing I hate about my omelet is how they overcook the egg to become a flat mass of nothing. I prefer the fluffy goodness of egg ooze coming out as you dip your fork into the egg.

Best bests here are probably the filipino breakfasts as I didn't hear any complaints from my friends.

English Breakfast and Tea Room
Price: Budget

Smoke's - D Mall Boracay

The bulk of our eating was done in this restaurant. Why? Because its darn cheap and pretty good. Smoke's is your typical Filipino food served on a sizzling plate or other. The selection is varied, but most of what we had (and we ate here three times) was fairly good. The winner for all of us was the Spicy Chicken, which is a rice plate. I also had the Bicol Express and I liked it because it was spicy and I mean SPICY! My nose was dripping wet after I ate this. Another recommended dish is the Salpicao.

On our last night as I talked to the waitstaff, we didn't realize there was another location of Smoke's at D Mall. The one we went to is located where they sell fresh fruits meaning, its further behind the mall past most of the tourist stores. There are a lot of Korean tourists and locals who eat at this place.

Here are some photos of food and the bill to show you approximately how much we spent.


Smoke's Boracay
Price: Budget